Fewer Ugandans Get HIV

Sceptics of the HIV declining prevalence rates in Uganda have nothing to say now, reports Barbara Bitangaro.A new report by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Kyamulibwa, Masaka district, shows that the incidence or the number of new HIV infections has also declined significantly.“The number of new infections is actually very low. It is 0.6% new infections and we are not the only people who have reported this. “The Rakai project has also documented less than 1% of new infections,” Dr Anatoli Kamali, an epidemiologist with MRC, revealed.The MRC studied 9,000 HIV-negative individuals in Kyamulibwa, from 1990 to 1999/2000.Some 72 per cent of them were followed up two or more times to see whether they sero-converted or changed status, Kamali said.“Over a ten-year period, 190 cases have sero-converted: 93 men and 97 women. In 1990 the incidence stood at 0.8% for both men and women and in 1999 it fell down to 0.52%,” Kamali said. Median age at which they sero-converted was 27 years.Women tend to have lower median age when sero-converting, said Dr. Kamali. “Compared with the decline in incidence in the early to late 90s, we tend to see a higher reduction of 40% from 1995 onwards,” Kamali further noted. Ends